AssangeTM spins Oz Senate candidacy again

Nobody’s written about me for hours

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Julian AssangeTM has proven yet again the international media's inability to use Google, generating a media flurry by re-announcing his intention to seek a Senate seat in Australia's 2013 election.

The holed-up fugitive’s “me-for-the-Senate” plan, announced in March 2012 – nine months ago – got repeated in an interview and provoked yet another media hypegasm.

Assange has merely confirmed his intentions and said the formation of a Wikileaks party is “proceeding” with a proposed party constitution “under legal review”. However, by the time the almost-substantial Sydney Morning Heraldoriginal story reached the Washington Post, his assertion that he is “able to fulfil the requirements to register as an overseas elector” had morphed into the statement that he has already done so.

Apart from that, there’s not much to be said: a Wikileaks party would have to meet the registration requirements of any party, with 500 members. Merely to achieve a Senate seat would be difficult: Assange would have to sweep a total of more than 14 percent of the distributed preferential vote to get over the line, presumably displacing a Greens senator since Australian electoral math means it is all-but-inconceivable that either NSW or Victoria would bounce their sitting Liberal or Labor senators in favour of a Wikileaks candidate.

Assange told ABC Radio he believes the allegations against him in Sweden will be dropped, which invites the question why he remains inside the Ecuadorian embassy. ®